I Survived the ’89 Earthquake

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, an event that much of the world remembers as being the reason for the delay of Game 3 of the 1989 World Series between the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants. For me, it hits home because not only did this stop one of the most anticipated World Series of my lifetime, but it was an event that I lived through. I was 9 at the time and home with my younger sister and a friend when the 7.1 quake struck. When these things happen to you, you tend to remember every detail. I’ve re-written my account of the incident a few times over the years, and if you care to read the latest one, you can see it HERE, and a more detailed oneHERE. (Yes, that is a picture of me, 8 years younger and 50 pounds heavier.)

I wrote about this very card last year on Oct. 17, but given that Saturday marks the 20th anniversary, I figured I’d drag out one of the favorite cards I own: the 1990 Score “Lights Out: Candlestick” card. If you lived in the Bay Area and collected baseball cards in the late 1980s and early 1990s, you know all about this card. For good while, this black and white card rivaled the iconic Bo Jackson football/baseball Nike pose card that also appears in this 1990 Score set.

By looking at the stats for this blog, I can tell that I am not the only one who remembers this card. Every couple of days I get a few hits from people who appear to be looking for this very card. Well, here it is again, and this time I’ve included a scan of the back so that you can read all about what happened that day. The text on this card does not do the event justice, but I figure if you really wanted to know more about that day, you’ll be looking elsewhere, not at CardboardIcons.com for a history lesson.

[…] A partial set of 1990 Fleer World Series cards, recapping the 1989 victory over the Bay Area rivals San Francisco Giants. That was the Bay Bridge Series that was stopped for a week or so because of the Loma Prieta earthquake. […]